Joseph Bottum

What do you think, Sally? Would the younger kids in your house enjoy or employ NEW! Feather and Marabou Angel Wings?“Get ready for Christmas plays and other plays in your church group with these adorable Angel Wings,” the advertising copy at the crafts store says. But looking at these, . . . . Continue Reading »

It would be named Oy Toys, wouldn’t it? Lest anyone think we seek out only Christian tastelessness here at Icons and Curiosities, behold, I bring you:The Basketball Menorah Wood Craft! Sports fans will love will love it, Oy Toys tells us. “Watch as the children transform nine raw wood . . . . Continue Reading »

Sometimes, all writers can do is bow their heads in recognition that a description can’t be bettered. Want a flag for your car? Over at this flag store, they say, reasonably enough:Our Christian Car flags are made of durable, knitted polyester and are double sided for longer life. The staff . . . . Continue Reading »

I’ve never had a car statue—for that matter, here in New York, I don’t have a car, which pretty much moots the issue of how much inverted irony my life can stand. But my co-blogger Sally Thomas spends hours and hours in the car, and I’ve finally found the one she needs: St. . . . . Continue Reading »

Car door magnets—get ’em here. I was going to mock these, but, in truth, for a small congregation, where somebody’s personal car has to double as the church car, these could be useful. Slap it on the side, and the transformation is complete: Church Mobile![Rating: . . . . Continue Reading »

Ought we to want a bapistry that lets us “flip a switch and forget it”? If so, they’ve got us covered over at ChurchPools.com, where the “Easy Fill system allows you to flip a switch and forget it! The baptistery will fill, and maintain until ready.” [Rating: . . . . Continue Reading »

Cynthia L. Haven , a literary critic for the San Francisco Chronicle and a regular contributor to the Washington Post Book World, the Times Literary Supplement , and other journals sends along this note about The Courageous Heart of Irena Sendler , the television movie airing on Sunday on CBS: . . . . Continue Reading »

“Are you in or out? asks this tee-shirt from Christianshirts.net.Well, if I’m in, like where the question mark is, am I then the fourth person of the Trinity? Sun, empty cross, estimable bird, and—me?Saint Athanasius, phone home.[rating: . . . . Continue Reading »

Our friend, the North Dakota poet Tim Murphy, is safe—though the Red River flood drove him down to South Dakota to find a place to stay till the waters go down. He recently sent me this note about his drive south: I am a severe student of the prairie, and much of my life I have driven to . . . . Continue Reading »

Sapphics for Richard John Neuhaus If I have seen geese low on the east horizon, seen the long reeds strain in the dawn to follow, watched the first clean ice of the season take root for the winter, what worth are those clear scenes in a day that fathers lunge at half-born sons with a knife, and . . . . Continue Reading »